There are more than 1,460 living types of bats discovered in nearly every part of the world, with the exception of the polar regions and a few remote islands. In the Green River Formation of Wyoming– a remarkable fossil deposit from the early Eocene– scientists have uncovered over 30 bat fossils in the last 60 years, however till now they were all thought to represent the very same 2 species.
” Eocene bats have been known from the Green River Formation given that the 1960s. Remarkably, a lot of specimens that have actually come out of that formation were determined as representing a single types, Icaronycteris index, up till about 20 years back, when a 2nd bat species belonging to another genus was found,” stated study co-author Nancy Simmons, curator-in-charge of the Museums Department of Mammalogy, who assisted explain that second species in 2008. “I always suspected that there need to be much more types there.”
A picture of among the 2 freshly explained bat skeletons representing Icaronycteris gunnelli. This specimen, the holotype, is now in the American Museum of Natural Historys research collections. Credit: Mick Ellison/ © AMNH.
Recently, researchers from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center started looking closely at Icaronycteris index by collecting measurements and other information from museum specimens.
” Paleontologists have gathered numerous bats that have been recognized as Icaronycteris index, and we wondered if there were actually several types among these specimens,” said Tim Rietbergen, an evolutionary biologist at Naturalis. “Then we learnt more about a brand-new skeleton that diverted our attention.”.
A second fossil skeleton found in the same quarry in 1994 and in the collections of the Royal Ontario Museum was also recognized as this brand-new species. The scientists provided these fossils the species name Icaronycteris gunnelli in honor of Gregg Gunnell, a Duke University paleontologist who died in 2017 and made substantial contributions to the understanding of fossil bats and development.
There are fossil bat teeth from Asia that are a little older, the two I. gunnelli fossils represent the oldest bat skeletons ever discovered.
” The Fossil Lake deposits of the Green River Formation are just fantastic due to the fact that the conditions that produced the paper-thin limestone layers also maintained almost everything that settled to the lakes bottom,” said Arvid Aase, park manager and curator at the Fossil Butte National Monument, in Wyoming. “One of these bat specimens was found lower in the area than all other bats, making this types older than any of the other bat species recovered from this deposit.”.
While the I. gunnelli skeletons are the oldest bat fossils from this site, they are not the most primitive, supporting the idea that Green River bats developed individually from other Eocene bats around the world.
” This is an advance in understanding what occurred in terms of advancement and diversity back in the early days of bats,” Simmons said.
Reference: “The earliest known bat skeletons and their implications for Eocene chiropteran diversity” by Tim B. Rietbergen, Lars W. van den Hoek Ostende, Arvid Aase, Matthew F. Jones, Edward D. Medeiros and Nancy B. Simmons, 12 April 2023, PLOS ONE.DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0283505.
Image of a freshly explained bat skeleton representing Icaronycteris gunnelli. Found in the Green River Formation of Wyoming, this is the oldest bat skeleton ever recovered. The brand-new types was recognized after examining 2 exceptionally well-preserved skeletons from the development, which had previously yielded over 30 bat fossils from two recognized species. These findings contribute to our understanding of bat development and variety in the early Eocene. Credit: Mick Ellison/ © AMNH
52-million-year-old fossils support idea that bats diversified rapidly on numerous continents throughout the Eocene.
Researchers have found a new bat types, Icaronycteris gunnelli, based upon the earliest bat skeletons ever found in Wyomings Green River Formation. The study supports the concept that bats diversified quickly on multiple continents around 52 million years earlier and contributes to our understanding of early bat evolution.
Scientists have actually described a new types of bat based upon the earliest bat skeletons ever recovered. The research study on the extinct bat, which resided in Wyoming about 52 million years earlier, supports the idea that bats diversified quickly on numerous continents throughout this time. Led by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History and Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands, the study is released today in the journal PLOS ONE.
The brand-new types was determined after evaluating 2 incredibly unspoiled skeletons from the formation, which had previously yielded over 30 bat fossils from 2 recognized types. Scientists have actually explained a brand-new species of bat based on the oldest bat skeletons ever recovered. The research study on the extinct bat, which lived in Wyoming about 52 million years earlier, supports the concept that bats diversified quickly on multiple continents during this time. Surprisingly, most specimens that have actually come out of that development were recognized as representing a single types, Icaronycteris index, up till about 20 years back, when a 2nd bat types belonging to another genus was discovered,” stated research study co-author Nancy Simmons, curator-in-charge of the Museums Department of Mammalogy, who assisted describe that second species in 2008. The scientists gave these fossils the types name Icaronycteris gunnelli in honor of Gregg Gunnell, a Duke University paleontologist who died in 2017 and made comprehensive contributions to the understanding of fossil bats and development.